A Child of Two Worlds

by Mark Cole

  He ran to the front lines and unleashed the power of the Wrathblade. He swung the blade in a precise semi-circle dispatching most of the demons and undead that kept his men in the vanguard from falling back. He forced the anger back down again, and the flames guttered and went out.

  Good, he thought. This won’t end as badly as the attack last night. The previous night had been a constant run of one disaster after another in which he had lost half of the unit he led. I’m still doing better numbers wise than I did in Columbia. He wondered for a moment if that memory was his own before he realized he didn’t care. His singular goal was to get Terra back.

  He pushed his group of a thousand elves and humans to run harder, but their collective exhaustion prevented them from going faster. He had been forced to break the army into two parts. One performed attacks and maneuvers during the day, the other raids and bombardment at night. Everything was going well. The army was down to a hundred thousand, but they were only outnumbered three-to-one now.

  “Guardian,” the pouch around his neck called. He reached a finger in through the top to touch the Eye and talked as he ran.

  “Go for Corin.” Alex swore and started again. “This is Alex.”

  “King Harbronn is injured,” Aeryn said. His ships and the Changeling of the Wing were instrumental in relaying information. They had been using Bahamut’s Changelings of the Scales to coordinate, but the dragons’ telepathy had very limited range and was only useful when they were within a mile or so. Battles in the sky would often take the Silverwings far outside that range, and they were forced to use the Eyes to communicate in battle. “The Hammer Legion was caught in an ambush, very few survived. The plan is falling apart. You need to fall back.”

  “We are,” the Guardian said. “Have you seen any sign of the sprites coming from the southeast?” He asked that any time Aeryn reported.

  “Still none, Alex. I’ll let you know if I do end up seeing anything.” He received the same answer every time he asked.

  “Thanks. Can you see where I am?” The Winglord said he could. “I could use a safe route out of here. We are about to be flanked.” He was given the directions to a fall-back position that was being held by Ligon Stormbringer and a thousand northmen. “Thanks. Be careful up there, Aeryn. It looks like one hell of a storm is brewing.”

  “Will do.”

  Following the directions, Alex was able to lead his ragged thousand into a palisade that had been built that morning. He would be able to see the sun nearing its apex if the cloud cover weren’t so dense. He glanced around and saw the defensive structure was abandoned.

  “Hello?” he called. “Anyone here?” Ligon stepped from behind a wall. A twelve foot tall demon with four arms as big as Alex’s legs walked with him. The Guardian held his sword in front of himself defensively. “What is going on here, Ligon?”

  The elder snorted. “What does it look like? I have been betraying your plans to the Great Lord from the beginning.”

  Alex stood there dumbfounded for a moment. He still had a thousand men with him, and even though the demon was huge, the odds were in his favor. “But your nephew…”

  The barbarian laughed. “Michael was a fool, volunteering to protect the Nexus. I tried to advise him against it, but he would not listen to reason. He died for his idiocy.”

  “Why?” the Guardian demanded.

  “The end is coming, Guardian. Whether you fight it or accept it. I have just chosen the path that leads to the greatest rewards.” Alex roared and charged the man, but the massive demon blocked the attack with one of the four swords it wore.

  Dirt flew into the air as the earth erupted behind him. He risked a glance over his shoulder and saw demons springing from pits in the ground. His thousand were now the ones outnumbered and battling for their lives. He looked forward to see the demon had not budged an inch to even draw another weapon. Ligon stood still as well.

  “You are Guardian?” the huge demon rumbled. It took Alex a second to realize it had asked him a question.

  Alex took a couple steps back. The battle raged behind him. Ligon and the other demons must have had orders to leave him to the big demon. “I am. Are you their general?”

  The big demon nodded. “I am Reaver.” The general drew the other three swords. “We fight now.” With surprising speed, it crossed the short distance and put Alex on the defensive. There was no way he would be able to parry four separate blows, so he resorted to evading the attacks as much as possible.

  He was almost decapitated when he tried to attack the massive demon. It blocked the thrust with its lower two arms and swung at Alex’s neck with his upper two. How am I supposed to fight this thing?

  the Voice of Wrath hinted.

  Alex nodded. He fed the flames of his rage and pushed himself to be faster. He thrust again, and it was parried and countered the same. This time he was expecting the attack and rolled in close to get inside the big demon’s reach. The kick to his shoulder sent him rolling away. The thorium armor took most of the jarring impact, but he was disoriented from being knocked around.

  He shook his head and just managed to get his sword up in time to deflect a blow that would have split his skull or crushed his neck, depending on whether or not his helmet would have withstood the attack. He dove backwards and got his feet under himself. A third thrust and this time he tried spinning to the right. He caught an elbow to the side and stumbled a few steps. He put up a frantic defense while he tried to think.

  I’m shorter than this guy, he thought, and all of his attacks leave his swords low. If I can use the strength of the Wrathblade… Alex drew as deeply as he could on the rage of the Wrathblade. It burned white hot in his grasp. He thrust a fourth time, and Reaver parried the blade down and swung his upper two arms at the Guardian’s neck again.

  Alex stepped back from the blow, and before the big demon could react, he leapt high into the air toward the general. The demon’s widening eyes followed his ascent. The Guardian’s Blade split the demon’s skull open. The collapsing monster spilled blood and gore onto the crimson soaked ground.

  Ligon watched the great demon fall and met Alex’s eyes. The barbarian darted for the exit behind him, but Alex was faster. The young man tackled the older to the ground and forced him onto his back. “You will pay for this, traitor,” the Guardian promised.

  The northman smiled at him wickedly. “You fool. You don’t realize you’ve already lost.” He continued smiling as Alex cut off his head. The Guardian stood and surveyed his group. There were less than a hundred standing, but they had won.

  Alex touched the Eye he had in the pouch around his neck. “Everyone, give the orders to fall back. Ligon betrayed our plans to the enemy general. They have both been dealt with. Be wary of any northmen. I’m not sure if he was working alone or with accomplices.” The survivors well enough to walk helped support those who weren’t. Only one hundred fifty humans and elves of the original fifteen hundred still stood. Alex led them back to the main camp.

  “Get the healers,” he said to one of the elves that was miraculously uninjured. The elf returned a few minutes later with a few sorceresses wearing white.

  Alex had learned a few things about magic since the war began. The most important bit of information was that women were stronger in healing physical injuries than men were. He immediately formed a corps of women who were dedicated to doing nothing else. He spotted a little girl also in white.

  “Hanna?” he asked incredulously. She walked to him. The innocence that had been on her face just a few days ago was gone. The little girl looked to have aged years in a bare handful of days.

  “Yes, Alex,” Hanna asked. Her shoulders were slumped, and she lacked the exuberance she once had.

  “Why are you working with the healers?”

  An elven woman wearing white with a red stripe of rank on her shoulder came up to him. “Hanna, go treat the humans.
I’ll talk to the Guardian.” The little girl nodded and strode off to see who she could help. “I am Therese, and I lead the Third Healers.”

  “What is Hanna doing with your group?” he said demanded to know. “She should be back with the younger children.”

  The elf glared at him. “She begged her father to allow her to help with something. Guardian, she has more magical power than any two women under my command, extremely unusual for a changeling. Hundreds live because she works with us.

  “Hanna is young, but she is by far the most talented healer I have ever seen. She has somehow developed a way to prevent men from turning when they get bitten by the undead. A cure is still a long way off, but that little girl gives those infected with the undead necrosis hope, when before, all we could give them was a swift death.”

  “Fine,” he said softly. “I understand. Carry on with what you are doing.” The elf nodded and began treating those with the gravest injuries. Alex walked to where Hanna worked on a deep slice in a man’s leg. He watched in silence as the flesh knitted closed faster than any of the healing he had seen. She was very talented. The drain on her magical power didn’t faze her as she stood and moved to the next person.

  “This is going to hurt,” the little girl murmured. An arrow protruded from the man’s arm. “I’m going to have to remove it, or else I can’t heal you. Do you understand?” The young man nodded. She held out a piece of leather wrapped with cloth. “Bite down on this.” She stuck it between his teeth. “Are you ready?” He nodded, sweat beading on his brow.

  She used magic to snap the arrowhead off and quickly pulled it out of the man’s arm. He yelled against the piece of leather clamped between his teeth. She put her hands over the wound. Alex saw her fingers were covered with blood. A couple of seconds later she pulled her hands away and there wasn’t even a scar. She stood and looked around for another to help, but everyone not yet healed was either dead or being taken care of already.

  Hanna turned and saw Alex standing behind her. She smiled wanly. “Hello again, Alex. How are you?”

  He knelt before the little girl. She must be no more than seven or eight, he thought sadly. “I’m fine, Hanna. How’re you?”

  “I’m tired. So many people need help. I’m doing everything I can to save them.”

  Alex nodded. “You’re doing a good job. Mistress Therese said you are very talented. I think you’re being very brave by helping all these men.”

  The little girl’s smile widened at his praise, but she shook her head. “I am just doing what I can.”

  Alex patted her shoulder and stood. “Keep it up. You’re saving a lot of lives out here.”

  “I will.”

  Forcing children to fight a war, Alex thought angrily. I will kill him. He was careful to keep his hand away from the Guardian’s Blade as he walked to the command tent. He wasn’t sure he would be able to control his rage if he touched it.

  Brahm was pacing inside the command tent when Alex arrived. The Guardian remembered sailing on the ocean with a much younger Dwarf. They had fought together before, and Alex was happy to have such a long-time friend at his side. That wasn’t me, an ever diminishing voice whispered. “Is Harbronn all right?”

  “He’ll live, but he almost returned to the Mother. I’m hearin’ Ligon betrayed us to flamin’ Azreal.” Alex nodded. “When I get me hands on that traitorous bastard…”

  “I already beat you to it. His corpse will feed the vultures.” Brahm nodded viciously as Caitlyn entered the room in her human form. It seemed her force had gotten the message and returned as well.

  “Good,” she said. “He deserved to die a hundred times for the deaths he caused today.” Brahm agreed with her.

  “Why didn’t you tell me Hanna was working with the nurse corps?”

  Caitlyn looked at him with a puzzled look on her face. “I didn’t know she was. I knew she was a powerful sorceress, or would be when she grew older, but I didn’t know she was treating the wounded.”

  “One of the women said she was the most powerful healer she had ever seen.”

  “We’ll need as many powerful healers as we can get,” Silvia said as she entered the room. She had just caught the last part of the conversation.

  “Even if they are seven-year-old girls?” Alex asked.

  Caitlyn regarded him. “Everyone is needed. Man, woman, and child. They will all die if we lose here.”

  “I just wish there was something we could do to stop this fighting. This may sound strange, but if this battle doesn’t end soon, there won’t be enough people to sustain a population on this world,” Alex said. He rubbed his arm where he had felt Terra get hurt yesterday. She was so weak he only knew she still lived because he could feel her aches and pains.

  “But we can’t just give up,” Silvia said.

  Alex nodded. “What we need is a way to stop Azreal’s reinforcements. This war would have been over and done with if we didn’t have to contend with them as well.”

  “Alex,” the Winglord’s voice called from his and Silvia’s Eyes. The Guardian pulled the Eye from the pouch to talk this time.

  “What’s up, Aeryn?”

  The Changeling of the Wing had laughed the first time Alex had used that colloquialism. There weren’t very many reasons to laugh now. “The winds are starting to get bad up here, I’m telling my ships to land. You’re losing your eyes in the sky.”

  “I understand. Meet us in the command tent when you are back on the ground.”

  In fairly short order, the remaining leaders had all gathered in the tent. They sat and studied the map. Ligon’s chair had been removed. Harbronn’s seat and the one at the head were empty. “I’ve been thinking,” Alex said. “Maybe we don’t have to win this battle before we attack the tower.”

  “What are you suggesting?” Bahamut asked.

  “A distraction,” Alex said. “One large enough that Azreal is forced to commit all of his remaining forces to stop it. Then, a small group led by myself can infiltrate the Obsidian Tower, rescue Terra, free anyone else we can find, and kill Azreal if the opportunity presents itself.”

  “That be a mighty… bold plan. Who’re ye plannin’ on takin’ with ye on this suicide mission?” Brahm asked.

  Alex looked at his friend. “You and Caitlyn, if you’ll come.”

  Brahm smiled. “Wouldn’t have it any other way, me boy. What about ye, Cat? Feelin’ like gettin’ yerself killed in this crazy man’s harebrained scheme?”

  Caitlyn laughed. “I don’t think he’s quite crazy yet,” she said to the Dwarf. She faced Alex, and her golden eyes looked deeply into his green. “You know I would follow you to Hell and back.”

  “Thank you,” Alex said. He looked to the remaining leaders. “This won’t be anything like the hit and run tactics we’ve been doing. This is going to be an all-out brawl. He should be able to bring in another hundred thousand before the morning, so it’ll be four to one. This is going to be bloody.”

  Chieftain Rageclaw raised an eyebrow. He had a new scar across his cheek and another that puckered his mouth. “When isn’t it bloody?”

  Alex looked to Aeryn. “I’m going to need some way to get in there without being spotted.”

  The Winglord thought it over for a moment. “I have some escape gliders that you could use if the weather’s not too bad. We could launch them from above the cloud cover.”

  “Good,” the Guardian looked at the leaders of the peoples of Dae. “Tomorrow, we end this, one way or another.” They all nodded and left one by one.

  Chapter Twenty-two - The Obsidian Tower

  “I do no’ like Silverwings,” Brahm shouted over the rush of wind, “but I do no’ like the idea o’ jumpin’ out o’ one at all!”

  Caitlyn laughed.

  “Don’t worry,” Alex yelled. “Aeryn said to just hold your muscles tight and lean the way you want to go. The levers and harnesses will to the rest.”

  They had left that morning and soared up into the sky. The sun was
brilliant above the clouds. Their clothes were still damp from the moisture they had flown through. A blanket of white and gray clouds skimmed by below them.

  “We are getting close to the launching point,” the Winglord said. “Get to the rail and get strapped in.” The three went to the side of the Silverwing, and Changelings of the Wing rushed about them connecting the complex harnesses and rigging. In less than a minute, they were strapped in and holding the rail ready to jump off.

  A female changeling with blue eyes stood next to Alex. “As soon as you jump, you are going to want to pull on this lever and fold out the wings,” she said pointing to a blue lever above his head. “Don’t! You will snap the wings off and crash. Wait until you are falling straight down, pull the lever, and level out from the dive slowly.”

  Alex nodded as her hand moved down to a red strap across his chest. “When it comes time to land, push down with your legs as hard as you can. That will cause enough drag for you to slow down. When you are on the ground pull this red strap up toward your neck, it will disengage the harness.”

  “Anything else?” Alex asked.

  She shook her head. “No. Good luck.”

  A few seconds passed. A shout came from the lookout on the foc’sle. “Efreet are coming up in front of us.”

  “You three launch. Don’t open the wings until you are in the clouds! We will take care of the efreet! Remember you rally at the eastern door, it’s the place they will least expect you to come from!” Aeryn shouted.

  Alex, Brahm, and Caitlyn pulled themselves over the rail and began to plummet through the sky. The rush of wind over their ears was deafening. A series of explosions and thunderclaps followed them into the dense clouds.

  Alex waited a few seconds to make sure he was falling straight down before he pulled the blue lever to deploy the wings. He lifted his upper body using the handles above his head and pushed down with his legs gently. He had just begun to ease out of the rapid descent when a screaming body fell past him.

  It was Caitlyn. One of the wings on her glider didn’t open, and she was falling fast. Alex pushed the lever for the wings back into its previous position. The wings snapped back closed, and he began a free fall after her.